Rape of Lucrece

A lot of my work on this project had less to do with design and more to do with dramaturgy. It’s not good enough to do this piece because Shakespeare; the text needs to illuminate the pain, fear, suffering, prison of patriarchy, which we still live under. Kate, Dan and I were curious about exploring a feminized side of Dan’s physical body, and playing with a color palate that defied traditional depictions of violence against women. Can we show Dan as both victim and assailant? What does it mean to the audience to see a traditionally masculine form depicted in soft, Renaissance-era painterly colors and lighting? What does it then mean to place it next to the word “Rape?”

In retrospect, I would have omitted the red splatter effect. Yes, there is a death and a knife involved in the play, but it telegraphs a message to the audience in a way that I now find distasteful.